St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Calgary, traces its beginnings to the commencement of the 20th century.  In 1905, as Alberta became a province, Rev. J.A. Clark, minister of Knox Presbyterian Church (now Knox United) suggested that a congregation be established in east Calgary.  The Session of Knox decided to engage the services of Rev. Alexander Dunn as an assistant for Rev. Clark.  Rev. Dunn would be responsible for generating interest in a congregation for East Calgary by conducting Sunday evening services.

Rev. Clark conducted the first of these services on Easter Sunday, April 15, 1906 at a schoolhouse in the new neighbourhood of Inglewood.  Rev. Dunn conducted services throughout the summer and, in the fall of that year, an official congregation was established with Rev. Dunn called as its minister.  St. Andrew’s Presbyterian moved into a building on the corner of 9th Avenue and 13th Street SE on land donated by Major Stewart, a retired NWMP Officer.  Five years later, a new building was constructed for St. Andrew’s on the corner of 8th Avenue and 13th Street.  The cost was $25,000.00.  It still stands today in the community of Inglewood and a picture of it is shown at the top of this narrative.

Fifty years later the community of Inglewood was in decline.  As residential areas in the city of Calgary spread much further to the south, Calgary Presbytery suggested that St. Andrew’s relocate towards these growing population areas.  With the arrival of Rev. Kingsley King in April 1961, he held services both at the Inglewood location and at Haysboro Elementary School, initially with a group of 3 families formerly from Grace Presbyterian Church.  They included Jean and Bill Graven, Joanna and Fred Neiboer and Muriel and John Young.  We are blessed to continue to have John Young as a member of our church family today and his dear departed wife Muriel was a church school educator for us for over 50 years.

A resulting increase in membership in Haysboro led to a decision to make the move to the south complete and an official sod turning at St. Andrew’s current Heritage Drive location took place on May 6, 1962.  Dedication of the current sanctuary took place on October 14, 1962 with Wing Commander James Dunn, son of our first minister, participating.  Additions to the present building were completed in 1982 and 2004.  The Karl English Lounge adjacent to the Foyer is named in memory of the minister who led our congregation through its expansion and served us faithfully for over 20 years.

In the 1980’s, St. Andrew's orientation for mission lead to the establishment of Trinity Presbyterian Church in the district of Lake Midnapore,  lying south of Fish Creek Provincial Park.  In 2011, our two congregations merged into the present congregation, but we are committed to a renewed focus of ministry to families in that area.  In addition to the naming of Trinity Hall downstairs, evidence of Trinity Church as part of our history can be found in the Chancel area and the stained glass in the Foyer above the Sanctuary doors.  In 2006, St. Andrew's began to send people to places like Mexico and Haiti each year to help with construction projects for those in need. Building on this past, in 2008, the congregation adopted a “Vision for Mission” statement to guide the future development of our mission endeavors.  Activities emanating from this are detailed on the Mission page of this website.

Today, St. Andrew's is a congregation of over 700 members and adherents, broadly serving south Calgary. We give thanks to God for the foresight, faithfulness, commitment and determination of the past members and leaders of St. Andrew's Church who have served us and made us the vibrant church we are today.

If you would like to read more information about the history of our congregation at both the Inglewood and Haysboro locations, please click on the Google Docs link below which will take you to a series of interesting articles entitled "History Bits".

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o17gNOmkt9Y4THYmCI-4qd8nTPwffVnm/view?usp=sharing